The present invention relates to a child-resistant container for containing a wide variety of different contents that should not be accessible to children and, more specifically, to a bottle and cap locking mechanism that includes an intermediate seal member for allowing a person to initially open and unseal the bottle and then fully lock the cap onto the bottle to prevent a child from being able to access the contents of the bottle once the intermediate seal member is removed. Such child-resistant containers may frequently be used to contain various materials for household or other uses including functioning as an air freshener container.
The present child-resistant container may be used to contain a wide variety of various materials for household and other uses including use as an air freshener container. For example, the present container may contain odor-neutralizing beads or other fragrance type materials for use in laundry rooms, bathrooms and other rooms and locations throughout a home, office or other locations where a candle may be inconvenient or where an air freshener device is preferred. When used to contain odor-neutralizing beads, the container needs to be child-resistant in order to prevent children from accessing the beads, liquid or other fragrance material found therein, which may be hazardous to children. Other uses for child-resistant containers may include containing medications, food items, or other contents potentially harmful to children.
Oftentimes containers for uses such as those described above include a threaded bottle or jar for engaging corresponding threads on a bottle cap or other closure lid and a removable seal or other member for covering and preserving the contents housed within the bottle or jar. The bottle cap is typically threadedly engaged to the bottle or jar over the removable seal when packaged for sale and requires a user to remove the cap and subsequently remove the seal before use. In these situations, the cap must be removed and re-engaged with the bottle after the seal has been removed. The typical container includes a bottle cap threaded on its inner wall for engaging the corresponding threads on the outer wall of the neck of the bottle.
Many child safety locks exist and are known in the art for securely locking a cap to a bottle so as to prevent children from accessing the contents of the container. However, once the child safety lock is engaged, it is often extremely difficult to re-open the container and, in some mechanisms, it requires breaking the locking mechanism to gain access to the contents of the container or to remove the seal if a user forgot to do so before locking the cap. For example, in some known child-resistant containers, the locking mechanism is associated with both the bottle neck and the cap, and when the cap is fully engaged with the bottle neck, the lock mechanism prevents the cap from being again removed to access the contents of the bottle or the removable seal if the seal has not been removed. This is not a desirable mechanism. Moreover, fully engaging the child safety lock before removing the removable seal or other member as described above renders an air freshener container unusable unless one is able to poke holes through the seal via vent holes in the cap. In other embodiments, the container may be rendered entirely unusable and the contents thereof inaccessible if one fully engages the child safety lock before removing any sort of removable seal, for example, in the case of a container containing medication.
A child lock mechanism is therefore desirable that still allows the bottle cap to be securely locked to the bottle but without engaging the child safety lock, then allows the cap to be removed to provide access to the removable seal or other member for removal thereof if applicable, and then further allows the cap to be reengaged to the bottle neck so as to engage the child safety lock. This solution should be simply designed, inexpensive, and easily manufactured.